FRUIT ENEMIES. 293 



Slugs and Snails. Three kinds of slugs namely, Arion 

 ater (Black Slug), Agriolimax agrestis (Grey Field Slug), 

 and the Black-striped Slug (Leinax maximus) do con- 

 siderable damage to the foliage, the blossoms, and the 

 fruit. All three are reproduced from eggs laid in the soil. 

 There is also a species of snail (Helix rupescens), with a 

 yellowish-brown body and dark brown stripes along the 

 neck and tentacles, which feeds on the young leaves and 

 fruit at night. Before strawing the beds give the soil a 

 good dressing of soot, or a mixture of one part of lime, 

 and ten parts of napthalene, to one hundred parts of fine 

 cinder-ashes. 



Miscellaneous Pests. 



Wasps. These attack the ripe fruits of the Plum, Pear, 

 Apricot, Peach, Nectarine, and Vine, and in some seasons 

 play serious havoc with the former. In the case of Vines 

 cover all ventilators or open spaces in vineries with muslin 

 when the berries begin to ripen. A framework covered 

 with muslin should also be used in the doorways if the 

 doors are to be left open for ventilating purposes. Wide- 

 mouthed jars should be partly filled with treacle and 

 water or stale beer, and suspended in the branches of out- 

 door fruit trees to trap the insects. Wherever possible 

 it is desirable to discover the nests, and at night destroy 

 these by inserting squibs of damp gunpowder and igniting 

 these, or cotton wool saturated with cyanide of potassium, 

 in both cases immediately sealing up the hole, and later 

 on digging out and destroying the nests. 



Rabbits and Hares. These quadrupeds do considerable 

 mischief by gnawing off the bark of young fruit trees. 

 The best preventive remedy is to enclose the lower 3ft. 

 of the trunk in small-mesh wire netting. In the case of 

 attack prepare a mixture of fresh cow-dung, clay, and 

 water, of the consistency of paint, and to each pailful add 

 a teaspoonful of tincture of assafretida- Smear the bark, 

 and the wounded parts especially, with this pigment. 



